Author's notes: and now we come to the final chapter. The ending is going to be very abrupt, but keep in mind that I feel I've accomplished everything I set out to do with this story. If you think you could do better with this AU scenario, please feel free to try.
This chapter has the throuple meeting Millie's family. I know that Millie has four brothers who haven't been seen in the show but for the purposes of this fic, let's say that they're just not at the ranch at the time like in the Harvest Moon Festival episode.
—
Months had passed since the debacle at spring break. Millie recovered without complications. Verosika had been on tour for sometime now. Moxxie and Millie had been staying with her in her hotel suites. Verosika felt it had been going great.
The tour was doing a stop in Wrath. It was close by enough that Verosika, Moxxie, and Millie were going to work in a visit to Millie's parents for a few hours.
"You should keep your expectations low," Moxxie warned. "I've met Millie's family before and it went poorly. Now that was because they felt I was seriously lacking in toughness. Since you're rich, famous and hot they'll probably think you can get away with lacking in that one area. But they might not like you for being what they call a city slicker so you should stay on guard. You should also stay near me so that we can back each other up if necessary."
"Millie didn't back you up?" Verosika asked.
"When they talk shit to me in front of her," Moxxie began, "she would hold my hand afterwards and say 'there there' to smooth things over. I understand that she has conflicting loyalties and that not caving into all the pressure they're putting on her to break up with me is very loyal of her."
The three of them made it to Millie's childhood home. Millie ran up and greeted her parents. Sallie Mae was with them as well.
"Hello," Verosika greeted. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Verosika."
"I wanna make one thing clear," Joe began sternly. "I don't care for your music."
"I actually don't like my music that much either," Verosika agreed. "I'd much rather make something more real than the soulless sexy stuff but I have to wait until either music tastes change or I can self-produce something like that but I'd have to wait for my current contract to run out."
"All right," Joe said, able to tell that Verosika meant what she was saying.
"I'm much more interested," Verosika continued, "in what you think about mine, Moxxie and Millie's… arrangement."
"Ah'm fine with it," Lin answered. "My cousin Paula slept with a married man who killed her because he was worried that his wife was on to him and he needed to cover his tracks."
"I'm guessing that dumbass," Verosika interjected, "didn't account for how killing your cousin would create another set of tracks."
"Yes," Lin admitted. "Point is, Paula's death could've been avoided if dumbass hadn't originally tried to be monogamous with his wife when he didn't know for sure if he could follow through on that or if the three of them had worked out their own arrangement."
"Honestly, "Joe spoke up, "the only thing Ah see wrong with this is that Moxxie's still in the picture."
I hope you enjoyed that, Verosika thought, because that's the only free shot I'm giving you.
Joe and Lin showed Verosika around the place. A little over an hour later, they all gathered at the kitchen table for an early, light dinner (or supper, as Lin called it). Millie and Verosika started talking about the attack at spring break.
"If you had a gun on you," Lin began to ask, "why even have multiple bodyguards?"
"Actually having to protect myself is like my last resort option," Verosika explained. "Otherwise, I leave it to my bodyguards. But if they're not able to handle the situation, I want to be sure I'm not completely helpless if anyone ever gets past them."
"And here Ah thought you were one of those rich types," Lin began, "that can't do anything for themselves."
"Being rich is something of a new development for me," Verosika explained. "I came from a very modest background. I got to where I am through hard work and determination."
"All right," Joe said.
Moxxie felt a twinge of jealous resentment over how Verosika had made greater progress in much less time than him when it came to Millie's parents. He buried that feeling down when he remembered his earlier point about how he and Verosika would obviously be judged by different standards and should focus on being happy for her.
"You must really like Millie a lot," Joe spoke up again, "to tolerate Moxxie being a plus one in your relationship. "
"If anything," Verosika began to retort, "it started out as quite the opposite. I fell for Moxxie hard and at first, I only wanted to get Millie on board with the idea of sharing him or maybe being their mutual friend with benefits but over time, I fell for her too."
"What could that little twerp have to offer?" Sallie Mae asked.
"I have been with many people in the past," Verosika said, "most of them, varying degrees of asshole. Moxxie on the other hand, is very considerate, in more ways than one," Verosika said in a way that made it clear she was referring to his bedroom skills, "so Moxxie is a very welcome change for me."
"You say that now," Joe said, "but Ah'm sure that in time you'll both realize he's lacking in the ways that really matter and kick him out of your arrangement."
"And I'm sure," Verosika began with hostility, "that you have no idea what you're talking about and that everyone has different opinions when it comes to the ways that matter."
"The only way that really matters," Joe resumed, "is the tough way which Moxxie is lacking in despite his skill with guns."
"That line of thinking," Verosika continued, "works great for you and your wife but outside Hicksville other things had to be taken into account, you hayseed fuck stain."
"Ah will not tolerate being disrespected in my own home," Joe declared and added a pound on the table for flourish. Moxxie picked up his knife and threw it into Joe's left pectoral who took it without so much as flinching. The knife quickly dropped out due to not going in very far since it was made for cutting. "If that's the best you've got, you've only proven what I have to say about your lack of toughness."
"That was a warning shot," Moxxie said as he sneakily used his tail to push the knife from Sallie Mae's place at the table (who was next to him) towards him and picked it up. "With how broad your pecs are, I aimed for where was likely to do the least damage. I won't be so generous next time."
"That was uncalled for," Millie scolded.
"He was about to attack Verosika," Moxxie defended himself. "I don't see anything wrong with making clear he'd face opposition to that."
"I wasn't going to attack her," Joe said.
"If she gave you the respect you demanded," Moxxie continued. "If she hadn't complied, then you would have beat her because that's how dads enforce respect."
"Like your dad did with you," Joe said as a statement rather than a question because he already pieced together that he was right.
"Uhh, umm," Moxxie stammered, immensely uncomfortable that he had just accidentally revealed his past to a group of people who made it clear they hated his guts. He continued to stammer uncontrollably until Verosika held his hand.
"Would you like to go to your happy place?" Verosika asked.
"Yes please," Moxxie answered. Verosika grabbed Moxxie and practically shoved his head into her breasts. Moxxie calmed down as Verosika held him.
"I think you should tell them the whole story about your dad," Verosika said.
"You're right," Moxxie reluctantly agreed. He pulled himself away from his happy place and faced Millie's parents, while holding Verosika's hand for support.
"Growing up," Moxxie began, "my dad would beat me, belittle me and got me to work for him at a young age. When my mom disagreed with him over these parenting choices, he settled the matter by killing her."
"Even for hell that's fucked up," Sallie Mae chimed in.
"That's what I said," Verosika agreed.
"Anyway," Moxxie resumed, "during all of this, my dad would insist that I respect him. So when you tried to threaten respect out of Verosika, the issues I have with dads, the word respect and wanting to protect her opened up some old wounds and dumped a bucket of salt on them."
Nothing was said as Joe, Lin, and Sally Mae took in what they had just been told and Moxxie caught his breath from saying a bunch of things in quick succession.
"I am sorry about the knife," Moxxie said after he caught his breath. "It was wrong of me to think you'd act like my dad just because you're also a dad."
"It's fine Moxxie, "Joe assured him. "I've had worse scrapes from working on the ranch and if I'm being honest, you showed more backbone than I thought you were capable of. More importantly, I understand how, as you put it, I opened up some wounds and dumped salt on them. Having said that," Joe took on a very stern tone as his eyes narrowed, "if you try something like that again, Ah'm not gonna let you off the hook."
"Understood," Moxxie terrifiededly agreed.
"Finish the story," Millie said to Moxxie. "Tell them how you solved your dad issues."
"I eventually hit my breaking point," Moxxie said after facing Millie's family. "I couldn't keep living under his rule but I couldn't run because I was terrified of what he would do if he chased and caught up to me. I decided to ensure that he wouldn't chase me by sneaking into his room one night and stabbing him to death in his sleep."
"Good for you," Sallie Mae complemented.
"Really?" Moxxie asked with almost tangible skepticism. "You don't think I killed him the wrong way."
"As long as they end up dead, there's no wrong way to kill someone," Sallie Mae said.
"Ah think what he means, Sallie," Lin spoke up, "is that killing his pa all sneaky-like goes against our views on toughness." She faced Moxxie. "It sounds to me like your pa did not deserve the luxury of getting a chance to fight for his life and you had every right to ensure he stayed out of yours."
"Thank you," Moxxie said, almost on the verge of tears from receiving more understanding from Millie's mom then he thought he might ever get.
"About your pa killing your ma," Sallie Mae spoke up. "I call bullshit."
"What?" Moxxie asked in shock and outrage.
"I believe you're tellin' the truth," Sallie Mae resumed, "about your dad bein' a piece of shit but him killin' your mom seems a bit over the top. So I'm thinkin' that you decided that since you can't earn our respect, you changed gears to earn our pity so you started lyin' to Millie first and then just repeated the same to us."
"Moxxie is not lyin' about what happened to his mom," Millie spoke up.
"What was his mother's name?" Sally Mae countered.
"Her name was," Millie began to answer but was stopped by Moxxie.
"Moxxie," Lin sternly began, "if you're not tryin' to pull a fast one on us, why are you bein' so stingy on the details?"
"My dad had powerful," Moxxie said and paused as he carefully thought over his next words, "business partners. They lost a lot of money due to disruptions caused by his sudden death. If they found out that happened because I killed him due to personal issues between us, I'm sure they would try to kill me and I'm also sure that you," Moxxie pointed at Sallie Mae, "would think contacting these people to point them in my direction would be a great way to get rid of me without worrying about retribution from Millie."
"Moxxie," Millie said, "if she wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
"That is not reassuring," Moxxie countered with a hint of anger.
"Wait a second," Sallie interjected. "How do these people not know you killed your pa?"
"Because I was careful," Moxxie answered.
"All right," Sallie Mae responded with a hint of respect for his ability to kill without leaving behind a set of tracks. "I'm still skeptical about whether your ma was killed like you said she was but I'm gonna drop the subject."
"It's not like you to give up so easily," Millie retorted skeptically.
"Based on how Ah've treated Moxxie when we've met before, "Sallie Mae said, "he has every right to not trust me with information Ah could use to get him killed and there's nothing Ah can say to make him change his mind about that."
There's a few things Ah could do, Sallie began thinking, involvin' pliers and a car battery but the harder Ah push, the more Moxxie's going to think Ah want to find out the truth so Ah can get him killed, the more tight lipped he gets.
"Thank you Sallie," Moxxie said, "for understanding that trust is a complicated subject. And much like respect," Moxxie then faced Joe and took on a sterner tone, "it must be earned, not demanded."
There was an awkward silence. Everyone wasn't sure what to do next.
"I'm sorry for calling you a hayseed fuck stain," Verosika spoke up. "That was a bit much."
"Ah'll let that slide," Joe replied. "I shouldn't have thought that just because Millie lets me talk shit about Moxxie in front of them without pushback that you'd do the same."
Moxxie briefly considered pressing the issue that Joe thinking that being the man of the house meant he could treat people however he wanted made him more similar to Moxxie's Dad than either of them should be comfortable with but decided not to. It would risk backpedaling on the progress he was starting to make with Millie's family. Even Sallie Mae appeared to be growing a begrudging indifference to him after accusing him of lying about his mother's death to gain sympathy.
The atmosphere slowly improved after that as the meal resumed. Sometime later, it was time for Verosika, Moxxie and Millie to leave. Millie and Verosika were saying their goodbyes to Joe and Sally May while Lin was with Moxxie.
"Ah'm sorry for pourin' salt on the wounds you had about your ma," Lin said. "Ah'll have a word with Millie and Sallie's brothers about easin' up on you during your next visit. Try to get you involved with what a family is supposed to be like."
"That's sweet but I don't think I should get my hopes up," Moxxie replied as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and had a sad look on his face. "Whatever you say to your sons, it's ultimately up to them if they follow through on it. And If things fall apart between me and Millie or something happens to her, then I have no reason to be connected to any of you. Plus, I've still got some lingering issues when it comes to even the concept of family. When I was growing up, I once, very briefly wished that my mom and dad had had another kid before she died so that I'd suffer less with a sibling for Dad to take his shit out on. Isn't that fucked up?"
"What's important is that you know it's fucked up," Lin said at her best attempt at being comforting. "Ah'm really in no position to judge how you reacted to all the stuff you went through. Well, other than sayin' thanks for making sure Millie never met your dad."
"While we're being honest, Moxxie," Lin continued, "Ah'm sure that your ma's dead and Ah'm sure that your pa was a major shit bag but Ah'm givin' you the benefit of the doubt that she died because he was a shit bag. It's possible that it happened the way you said but it's also possible you're exaggeratin' things to win us over."
"I understand," Moxxie agreed. "And I hope you understand that based on how you, your husband and your other children have treated me that I think telling you verifiable details like names, dates and places would be giving you more trust than you've earned. "
"Ah do," Lin agreed. "It's like you said to Sally: trust is complicated and can't be forced."
"But the fact that we're working on it instead of you writing me off as not being worthy of being a part of Millie's life is… is …." Moxxie was on the verge of tearing up as tried to find the words to articulate how he felt but was unable to do so. Instead, he put Lin into a hug which she returned.
—-
It was years later. Moxxie, Millie and Verosika's relationship had only gotten stronger with time. Following the tour after the spring break massacre, the general threat level against Verosika had decreased to around what it was before Moxxie, Millie and Vortex were hired. Whether this was because Roberta White was behind all the attacks and stopped sending people because she died or because all the failed attempts made the price on Verosika's life unaffordable wasn't clear. Either way, Verosika was extremely grateful to Moxxie and Millie for coming into her life..
It was now the day of their wedding. Thanks to hell not being bound by Earth's overly traditionalist views, the three of them would be marrying each other.
Verosika was wearing a white dress that showed off quite a bit of cleavage but was otherwise pretty conservative for her. She had chosen a sleeveless dress to show off how she had her heart tattoo with Blitzo's name crossed out replaced with one with Moxxie's name and had a matching one with Millie's name on the opposite arm.
Verosika had gone out first. Moxxie and Millie came down the aisle later, Millie being walked down by her father. They walked up to either side of Verosika. It had been decided that this would be the best arrangement for photographic symmetry.
They said their 'I dos' and it came time for the rings. Each of them would have one ring to signify how the marriage would make them united. Moxxie put on Verosika's ring, Verosika put on Millie's ring and Millie put on Moxxie's ring.
Verosika knelt down and they began a three way kiss to seal their marriage.